


Bottled-up

by CO32minus



Series: nanabana/bananana/makoharu [1]
Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, Illustrated, M/M, One Shot, Sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-01
Updated: 2014-06-01
Packaged: 2018-01-27 21:19:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1722863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CO32minus/pseuds/CO32minus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Makoto gets extremely worried after Haruka hides himself away for a couple of days, and goes to visit him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bottled-up

**Author's Note:**

> I am reaALLY SORRY FOR THE SHITTY ILLUSTRATIONS

The sun was close to setting, clouds passing overhead without casting shadows as twilight neared. Thoughts were passing through Makoto’s mind as quickly as day turns to night. However, no thought was completely unlike the others, the quiet and straight-faced boy of Makoto’s childhood hosted each one as if he himself were bringing him closer to the house upon the next hill.

               But the stairs under his feet never seemed to take as long to climb as they did now, and Makoto’s legs never seemed to lag so far behind his mind. He dragged on, trying to reach the house as quickly as his anxious body would allow. He wanted so badly to extend himself to his friend, who without any apparent rhyme or reason, secluded himself. That was how he always had been, keeping to himself, introverted from the start, but always readable by Makoto’s standards. That was what scared him. Never had the boy in the house upon the hill seemed so far away.

               Mind still consumed with thoughts, it seemed like at least half an hour had passed, or maybe simply a quarter of an hour since the youth began his trek up the short flight of stairs. But as the sun still showed upon the edge of the thin paper sky, it appeared hardly 3 minutes had passed.

               Finally, Makoto reached the entrance to the house – a wooden door with an overhang that loomed over the generally high statured boy, weaving a feeling of insignificance into his generally anxious mood.  

“Haru-chan?” His voice broke with nervousness, though he tried to hide his obvious concern. “Haruka?” He called past the door to anyone inside. No response. There was never a response.

               Carefully reaching out a hand to the door knob and finding it unlocked as it always was, Makoto eased open the door, looking around as he removed his shoes. Softly calling out again, he headed around the corner toward the faint sound of dripping water. However as Makoto neared, his padded steps couldn’t cloud out the only other noise in the nigh-vacant house. He briefly pressed his ear to the door, hoping only to hear the typical sounds of water sloshing. Against his wishes, quiet choked whimpers slithered under the door biting his ears and pulling his heart to a sharp jolt.

               “Haruka?” There was no waver in Makoto’s voice this time as he waited for a response. Not a sound returned.

               Makoto knew the other boy had heard, he could very faintly hear the catching of breath from the other side. Haruka wanted to be left alone, away from anyone that would try to comfort him, and yet he knew Makoto would be unable to comply.

               Grasping the door knob after a moment of fumbling, Makoto shoved the door open, eyes wide and vigilantly searching the room in hopes of finding the house’s sole inhabitant. He could only find them for a second, blood shot, cheeks flushed and wet from tears and the bath, raven hair clinging to his face. Haruka’s every barrier was down, eyes wide open in surprise and lips quivering, still breathing with a staggered rhythm. The pain in his visage would be evident to anyone, not just someone who knew him as well as Makoto, but their closeness made it so painful to see Haru curled into himself.  

               And despite this closeness Haruka was quick to hide his face, still frantically trying to calm his breath. Also attempting to settle himself in the moment of worried excitement, Makoto more calmly brought himself to Haruka’s side, whispers sliding from his lips, coaxing the other boy to turn his head so that Makoto could look at him, tears and all; just to see if he was ok, safe, and not suffering from anything too hard to cure. The touch of Makoto’s hand against the smaller boy’s face was so tame, and warm against Haruka’s cold skin. Makoto brushed his thumb down his friend’s cheek, wiping away any residual tears; he wanted to hold him, make everything better and wash away whatever was tearing at his mind. With his other hand, Makoto touched the water; colder than the skin of his companion – just how long had he been sitting there? Dear God how long had he been alone all by himself?

               “You’re not hurt are you Haru?” the words curled around Haruka’s ear and pulled him closer to the other boy.

               “No.” Warming up to the sudden company he nuzzled deeper into the other’s hand, still settling his breathe.

               “Ok let’s get you out of this – come on.” Makoto grabbed the closest towel and wrapped it around Haru’s head, making sure to not let the towel fall into the chilling water of the bath.

               Continuing to coo and slowly wrap the towel further around his friend, Makoto’s chest tightens in on itself, fighting the pity that had every intention of seeping into his heart and compromising the warmth he needed to preserve – he couldn’t let the situation surround his own feelings and his own sadness threatening to take over – Haruka was the priority.

               Nearly carrying the shorter boy to his bedroom, Makoto wrapped his arm around Haru and grabbed another towel before leading him to the room. Makoto seated the dark haired boy on his bed, seemingly more soft and comforting than he had ever cared to notice. Compassionately, Makoto laid the other towel over Haruka’s pitch-black hair, leaving his face open so as to gauge the young man’s emotional recovery. Makoto gently rubbed the towel against his friend’s hair, smiled a weak smile and gently kissed Haruka’s forehead. Continuing to refuse eye contact, Haruka looked at his hands under the towel and Makoto noticed how blue Haruka’s lips were.

               “Just how long were you in there?” Makoto tried to find Haruka’s eyes as he continued to hide them, not wanting to face the full embarrassment of being so openly emotional with anyone – or rather with himself.

               At this lack of communication, lack of acknowledgement of the question and apparent self-shame, Makoto feels his chest twist one notch too tight, a string snapping in heart. Furrowing his brow, Makoto rested his head for a moment on Haru’s then shifting to lie on Haruka’s shoulder. His muscular arms loosely wrapped themselves around Haruka’s back, slowly bringing him closer into a tight embrace. Maybe it could help warm the boy up, Makoto wondered, laughing to himself. As he buried his nose into the crook of Haruka’s neck, Haru hesitantly wrapped his arms around Makoto too, feeling the larger boy’s grip tighten ever so slightly.

               Haruka’s body was still cold, despite Makoto’s sturdy arms holding him over the towel, and he could feel the shivers began to run down his skin. Somehow Makoto could sense this, and began to pull away. After leaving Haru for a few moments, Makoto returned with pajamas, placing them on the bed as he once again sat next to his friend.

               As Makoto began to stand and leave his friend some privacy, he felt a light tug on his sleeve, finding Haruka’s hand weakly grasping onto it, keeping him there, wanting company and reassurance. Without persuasion, Makoto sat back down, looking away as the other boy crossed the room to get dressed. When Haruka returned, he continued to steer away from direct eye contact with the boy on his bed, this time less in shame and more in embarrassment. He reached for the boy’s hand with his own, squeezing it once, then taking it with both hands.

               “Stay tonight.” Haru continued holding Makoto’s hand as he sat next to him on bed. Makoto smiled and nodded, pulling Haruka into another embrace.

               Voice unusually timid, a single word escapes Haru’s mouth.

               “Thanks.”

               Makoto pulled away from the hug to kiss Haruka’s brow, and rest their foreheads together.

               “No problem.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm really sorry for my shitty description up there, this is the first fanfiction that I've entered into this website, and I am NOT good at writing short descriptions for anything. I hope this didn't kill anyone, because I'm going to upload some other makoharu things if I can manage to not die.


End file.
